


Shrivelled Rose Petals

by falling_light



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Angst, Death, Gen, Implied Relationships, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-23
Updated: 2013-04-23
Packaged: 2017-12-09 07:17:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falling_light/pseuds/falling_light
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This fic was born from a discussion with me and a friend about what would happen if Jade died. The perspective kind of starts from Dist's P.O.V. and then changes to Peony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shrivelled Rose Petals

'Jade is . . . no longer with us.' Peony stated, unable to look anywhere but the floor.

He had hesitated long enough, trying to find the right words to say. Some part of him was convinced that this was the wrong thing to do, and that Saphir wasn't ready to hear this. Though undoubtedly he would catch wind of the news somewhere, and Jade's absence would debilitate him further. Peony received the response that he expected,

'You're lying! I can already tell this is just another tenuous excuse so you can-'

'What reason would I have to lie to you about that, you ungrateful snot?!' Peony yelled, causing Saphir to jolt. All of his tolerance for the latter's childish whining had gone too. 'I thought you should be the first person to know, seeing how much he meant to you! I haven't . . .'

Peony forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to hold back burning tears. It was an inevitable failure, and one manage to escape from his composure. He continued with his train of thought,

'I haven't even told the Curtiss family of this yet . . . or even Nephry.'

Now he was serious, Saphir thought to himself; Peony always had a good reason to bring up Nephry, and would never joke about anything regarding her. Something surged from inside of him, originating from his brain and rushing through every nerve in his frail body All of Saphir's strength sucked itself away - starting with his fingers that were clamped to his bedsheets. 

'He was killed in action . . . and none of the men could find the body. We ..liev...he...aught...losion...at...'

Nothing in the world seemed right after those words were spoken. Nothing coming from the other man's mouth even registered with him. Everything began to lose its colour, and even the bars of the cell blurred into a haze. Concepts such as time and space vanished, and everything that he'd learnt up until that point became futile. It was such a cruel but familiar feeling. Time and time again, it would loom over him on what he had deemed "bad nights"; a hole that crept out of the shadows of his mind, ready to swallow him completely. The hole was no longer there anymore, and yet it still existed.

'...ey...ou sti..isten...phir? Sa...!'

Peony began to gently shake the younger man. No response. Saphir was still giving off heat, as lifeless as he seemed. With each passing second, however, it grew increasingly harder to move the willowy man. If Peony had to describe it, it were as if a puppeteer had cut off a marionette's strings, yet was still determined to move the heavy limbs around.

Saphir's final words were nothing more than a monotone whisper,

'No...'

*

It was from General Nordheim that Peony received the news of Saphir's eventual collapse. The soldier was insistent that it was in fact the death of Dist The Reaper - the last remaining God-General - fondly recalling how Jade would describe him as having cockroach-like tendancies.

'No,' Peony said, beginning to open up the file that had been presented to him 'Saphir Wyon Neis was the one who died in that cell. And please, don't speak ill of the dead.'

The documents he held were the official report on his death. On the opposite side of the front cover, a letter was located requesting an autopsy report. Strange as it seemed that they didn't already perform it, Peony was rather touched by the sentiment. No doubt that was just to soften the blow of what he was about to read. He had to do it though.

Saphir was found in his cell, described as a bundle of lifeless limbs. The official report of his death commented on how it was the stench that first made prison's guards suspicious. Scanning down the investigation notes, there were two details that hit Peony with some force. One: the indent of the body on the bed suggested that Saphir hadn't moved for at least a week. Two: his "beloved petals" were not on his body when they found him; instead they were laid out on the floor in a mess. Apparently one of the more careless soldiers had trodden on it.

Peony was quick to rise from his seat, and put the file down in his place. Instead of his usual joyous amble, he paced out of the room rather quickly. Never before in his life had he been so eager to call a meeting with his men. Now there was only one issue he had to bring to light, and he wanted everyone to listen . . .


End file.
